Collection of stereoscopic cards of African Americans,
Collection of stereoview photographs of African American subjects mostly with printed captions, by a variety of photographers and publishers. The images span the spectrum between authentic views of African American life and stereotypical racist scenes. The captions and descriptions on back of some o...
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| Other Authors: | , , , , |
| Format: | Photo |
| Language: | English French German Spanish Swedish Russian |
| Language Notes: | Several captions in French, German, Spanish, Swedish and Russian as well as in English. |
| Published: |
[United States] :
[various publishers],
[1879]-[1918?]
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| Summary: | Collection of stereoview photographs of African American subjects mostly with printed captions, by a variety of photographers and publishers. The images span the spectrum between authentic views of African American life and stereotypical racist scenes. The captions and descriptions on back of some of the photographs are reflective of the general racist attitudes towards black people at this time. Ten photographs relate to the cotton production process in the South. One shows the logistics of cotton production - black workers in Texas packing bales of cotton into train cars headed for a manufacturing center. The verso of this photograph claims that "the men love a life of indolent pleasure" and that they are uniquely suited to be "roustabouts", or unskilled laborers. Another interesting photo in the archive is a 1902 view of "A Typical Negro Cabin, Louisiana", located "a short distance above New Orleans on the west bank of the Mississipi". This photo makes note of the poverty faced by African Americans in the South, but naturalizes it, infantilizing black people with comments such as: "The dark group on the bench do not seem troubled with anxious thought for the morrow", and "He is satisfied with any kind of shanty which will hold his numerous household at night, - the day scarcely enters into his calculations." A comic photograph has a black man dressed in a dandy's getup outside a theater featuring the 1882 play, The White Slave, as he gets his boots shined by a young white boy. One 1896 photo depicts a loving black couple in an posed embrace, seated on a swing together amidst birch trees. Several photos of black children playing around, one with children huddled around a phonograph and another a group of boys playing dominos. The photograph of the boys playing dominos has been colorized as has the photo of "Mrs. Newlywed's new wench cook." |
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| Item Description: | Title devised by bookseller. |
| Physical Description: | 1 collection (22 photoprints on stereo cards) : stereograph, chiefly black and white ; cards 10 x 18 cm, or smaller |